One huge reason I want to be a nurse
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OK. So I'm probably pretty atypical for a nursing student. I am a retired USAF aviator after 22 years and probably don't HAVE to do much of anything more with my life. I'm 46 and decided it is too... Read More

Mar 25, '13

I understand where the video is coming from but where is the compassion on the patients' end? Is that awful to say because of what they are going through? Probably.. but I am sick of patients yelling at me for things I cannot control. I am sorry you are in pain, tired, sick of waiting for whatever you are waiting for but you are not the only person in the hospital. You are waiting for your MRI because someone else is in there. I am not holding out on you, I am waiting for the doctor to write an order. You are tired because we keep "bothering" you with vitals and tests? I am sorry, GO HOME if you don't want us in your room.

Wow, I sound terrible. I swear I have compassion, empathy, and treat all my patients with respect but sometimes my job makes me hate the human kind.

ETA: Luckily I encounter nice, appreciative more often than the ones described above.

Maybe it's me too...I couldn't finish watching this clip. Not because it struck a chord with me in any way, just too cheesy and sentimental.

I only skimmed through it.

Cheese? I was thiniking it was more like drinking the Kool-Aide.

But as someone else said where is the patients compassion for us. I remember one transplant recipient complaining that the transplant was being done on the long weekend and they'd had plans! Simple, refuse it and let it go to somebody who will appreciate the time, effort, expensive, and ultimate sacrifice some other family made for you to be as lucky as to get the spare parts!

Mar 25, '13

It is cheesy, to be sure.

But there is an underlying truth there that is easy to lose sight of in the midst of the chaos, the sh!+, the complaining, the manipulation, etc.

I thought about this video last night. I had a patient who was/is a complete troll, who stunk to high heaven, who didn't even have the courtesy not blow his foul breath right in my face, blowing his nose on the linens, etc... who had CHF due to a life of abusing himself. Of course his veins were horribly sclerosed and his numerous abscesses made it hard to even get a repeatable blood pressure.

While not the shiny-happy images from the video, I took myself back to a time when he was 2 or 3 (and probably having the groundwork already laid for the life he presently lives). I tried to think of him as the person he might have become sans the addiction and myriad other social issues. I don't know his story, nor do I want to. I'd be not surprised, however, if there weren't some heart-wrenching parts of it way back when.

I tried to think of him in empathetic terms not so much for him but for my own mental health. I can be extremely negative and critical - probably more so than most who've read this far. Part of it is nature (that red-hair gene, you know) and part acquired in early life experiences. Pushing fifty, however, I recognize how much influence I have over my attitude and demeanor and I am so much happier when I can find something good in the people that I'm choosing to serve - even if I have to fabricate it.

There was nothing shiny about this troll, and I've rarely been more happy to get a bed assignment, but trying to see him through a filter
like this video was helpful for me.

Mar 25, '13

I have a low tolerance for saccharine-sweet propaganda as much as anyone, but this video was good!

If you just get past the tug-at-your-heartstrings music and cliched caption at the end, the overall video is a very realistic snapshot of countless individuals we pass by everyday in a hospital scene. The focus was on patients -- their situations, concerns, fears... all of which were very real.

Very well done compared to some other image PR materials that focus on cheesy glorification of our not-so-glorious profession. Oh, what about those military recruitment commercials? Just as manipulative, if not more.

I have a low tolerance for saccharine-sweet propaganda as much as anyone, but this video was good!

If you just get past the tug-at-your-heartstrings music and cliched caption at the end, the overall video is a very realistic snapshot of countless individuals we pass by everyday in a hospital scene. The focus was on patients -- their situations, concerns, fears... all of which were very real.

Very well done compared to some other image PR materials that focus on cheesy glorification of our not-so-glorious profession. Oh, what about those military recruitment commercials? Just as manipulative, if not more.

My nation doesn't spend as much on military recruitment ads as the US. I'm old enough to remember the mini scandal when people found out your Marine Corps used models in their ads (remember all those tall, buff, gorgeous Marines in dress blues?).

The husband and his coworkers all laugh whenever our military does an ad (and he's a lifer). No mention of the bull pucky, outdated equipment, and an ever loving nation who forgets about them until the coffins come home.

Mar 25, '13

Nice video showing what "nursing" should be but sadly it's not. This add is to get pts in, for the money, to increase profit all while working the staff, ALL the staff half to death. Hospitals require more while giving less and less... I really shouldn't post after working 4 12's in a row. My shifts included dealing with a pt complaining non stop they are "so sick", in pain, c/o nausea, HR in the 130's BUT refuse all medications to help.. Or after dealing with a car wreck "victim" due to their own actions that happened to test positive for ETOH, Benzo's, Marijuana, and cocaine. Oh boy I could go on, but I will stop there...

My empathy and sympathy are not an issue, this entitled mentality and hospitals wanting to please is. Give us what we need to so our jobs. The pt is not always right and no they can't always have what ever they want, we have a license to protect and care to provide to get them back to baseline or as close to it as possible.. Sometimes what they want and need are two very different things!!!!

Mar 25, '13

Actually, I appreciated that they put in some items about the staff. In that case, asking if we could walk in each other's shoes makes sense. Considering that nurses from different departments don't understand each other's jobs, it's hard to imagine that patients would be able to walk in our shoes any better than we walk in theirs.

A little cheesy, perhaps, but the sentiment is important. Comments to the contrary are important, too. This is a hard business.

Mar 25, '13

IMO, you don't need--shouldn't need--to become a nurse to have empathy for others.

But if that's the reason you want to do it, OP, then that's your reason. Best of luck.

I got 99 problems at the understaffed, over regulated nursing home I work at......

But a lack of empathy ain't one of them.

Exactly! I would love to be able to sit with my confused or lonely patients all night and take extra time getting to know each of my 6 or more patients but it just isn't gonna happen! Nope, I have redundant charting to take care of..and cleaning the crash carts, fridge, COWS, etc...making sure pumps are programmed correctly, making sure the numbers on the tele boxes match the ones in the computer...being a liason between pharmacy and the MD...putting orders in the computer for the MDs because "they don't have computer access".....the list could go on and on. Every time I go to work there seems to be another chore added to my list. Chores that take away from face to face time with my patients. I swear I spend more time "treating" the computer than I do treating my patients!